He took a moment watching our faces one by one, keeping us waiting like starving captives begging for food. He then continued, “The Amiens are building the ultimate AI. They will choose the shapes and the colors. Probably they will do a thing or two with it. It will probably hurt us temporarily. We have absolutely no power over that, but after that...” he paused, and then he started talking very quietly in some sort of gibberish, closed his eyes for a moment, and then said, “My friends, I am afraid that this meeting is our last.”
We looked each other. What does that mean? The meeting is becoming bizarre...
He continued, “For decades, they collected all the data of this world through their AI products. With that data, they probably by now have succeeded in generating an exact copy of our world in a simulation. When that simulation is turned on, they will know what kind of strategy we came up to counter them. The machine will know our behavior and thoughts. It will know about all our meetings in its world that it has played in infinite times. That’s why, from now on, I will give directives separately to each one of you. It will not make sense to you, but it is the only way. You must believe...”
He took a knife and started to clean the flowers from their thorns. He then said, “One cannot see the world through a slice of time. It won't make sense. All the slices must be aligned together, all of them.”
He nodded his head to the first advisor meaning that this meeting is over. As all the ministers left in silence, Banume made a sign to the First Advisor to keep me.
The First Advisor pulled me to the side and whispered, “Minister Loman, the Supreme wants you to stay for a brief moment if your agenda allows that, of course.”
I shook my head politely in a sign of acceptance and submission. Banume was finishing the bouquet of flowers and making the last touches when I approached him quietly, He said, “This bouquet is for your wife. Congratulations on the newborn.”
I was very surprised, and I replied through the First Advisor, “Thank you, Supreme. Your kindness is beyond this world.”
He said, “This is the last time we will talk face to face. It's been a blessing working with you. And, if there will be another time, it means a miracle will have happened. You are the “diamond of this empire, Loman.
“Loman, you need to know that only a true believer could beat the machine. The feelings engendered in the transcendence state by our religion are highly unpredictable. They are subjective to the person them self and no one else. The Light’s being is in us, and you must believe now for the sake of our people. It is the only way, Loman.”
He is trying to defeat me in a spectacular checkmate. I understand now why he didn't throw me to the lions, as in his perspective, doing that is a defeat. He wants to corner me to make me a true believer. That is his victory, not by forcing me but by giving me an impossible choice that I must take.
He then continued, “One must be completely incoherent, illogical, and mystic to bypass the predictions. Everything is predictable in this universe as everything follows the rules of physics. Every particle is connected to the next particle by those rules; therefore, the machine can predict everything, everything except a true believer as he is following another set of rules that are not physical but spiritual. Be like the Light’s being, Loman. Ask his guidance through your third eye.”
We turned in circles. I preferred keeping silent and not to engage in a religious conversation. After a moment, he looked at me very seriously and said, “In the next 24 hours, I want you to prepare a very detailed report on General Konu.”
I replied, “Yes, Supreme, but I must mention that in our previous report, we covered the topic of Konu. He is only a puppet in the hands of the First Citizens. He is just a general without ambitions, and for the most part of his career, was an unknown, an average military with an average career chosen to follow instructions just like their premier.”
Quickly, he replied, “He is too average...”
After that, he took the spray and started to vaporize water on the plants, talking to me without looking at me, like in a way, he is giving me his complementary report, “That man gives an impression of an unintelligent, rough soldier, an average new general among all the generals, doesn’t he? He got there by following the guidelines of the military institution, took his time, and avoided all conflicts with the higher chain of command. Some say he was just a soldier who got there by chance. Others say he was a kind of a safe compromise between the First Citizens and the state. I say that the First Citizens own the state, and there is no compromise in them. I don’t believe in luck, either.
You could argue that they could’ve used the best generals to kickstart their ultimate supremacy plan. Kadar from the Secret Service was and is still the best of all their generals, in my opinion. He ran four secret campaigns in our neighborhood and successfully executed them without a drop of blood. He managed to install new pro-confederation leaders under our nose in our small republics.”
I wanted justify our failures that time, but he cut me off, “…or, of course, General Lamas from the Space Force. He managed to destroy almost all the
